Laird Philip Koenig (September 24, 1927 – June 30, 2023) was an American author and screenwriter. His best-known work was The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, a novel published in 1974.^[1] The novel was adapted into the 1976 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster. He also wrote a play based on his novel.

Koenig died of natural causes in Santa Barbara, California, on June 30, 2023, at the age of 95.^[2][3]

Novels

• The Children are Watching (w. Peter L. Dixon) (Ballantine, 1970) (filmed as Attention, The Kids Are Watching, 1978)
• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Coward-McCann & Geoghegan, Inc., 1974) (filmed 1976)
• Islands (Dell, 1980)
• The Neighbor (Avon, 1978) (filmed as Killing 'em Softly, 1982)
• The Disciple (Bantam, 1983)
• Rockabye (St. Martin's Press, 1981) (filmed 1986)
• The Sea Wife (Warner Books, 1986)
• Rising Sun (1986)
• Morning Sun : The Story of Madam Butterfly's Boy (Prospecta Press, 2012)

Plays

• The Dozens. Dramatist's Play Service, New York 1969
• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. Dramatist's Play Service, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8222-1571-3

Screenplays

• The Cat (w. William Redlin), 1966
• Flipper (TV series), episodes, 1966–1967
• The High Chaparral (TV series), episodes, 1970
• Red Sun [w. Dene Bart Petitclerc, William Roberts, Lawrence Roman], 1971
• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, 1976 (from own novel)
• Bloodline, 1979 (from Sidney Sheldon novel)
• Inchon (w. Robin Moore), 1981 (from story by Moore and Paul Savage)
• Rockabye, 1986 (from own novel)
• Stillwatch (w. David E. Peckinpah), 1987 (from Mary Higgins Clark novel)
• The Fulfilment of Mary Gray, 1989 (from LaVyrle Spencer novel)
• Tennessee Nights, 1989 (from Hans Werner Kettenbach novel)
• Lady Against the Odds [w. Bruce Murkoff], 1992 [from Rex Stout novel, The Hand in the Glove]

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

• (Unknown) for "Intrigues" (French TV series), 1985 (probably The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane)